Versatile Mage

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

Fenghe was a huge river connected to the sea. The harbors along it had long become the Sharkmen’s breeding grounds.

‘The sea had a great number of demon creatures who were as strong as the Sharkmen. The Sharkmen usually had to pay a huge price to obtain the resources needed to increase their population.

However, it was different on land!

‘The creatures on land were not as savage as the creatures in the sea. The resources on land were abundant, too. The nearby hills alone had seemingly unlimited supplies of food!

The human city had stored a huge amount of magic ores, too. Those magic ores could be used to make them stronger.

‘Wasn’t living on land better than having to compete with other ferocious species in the sea? A single tribe of the Sharkmen could easily take over a city!

“It looks like the Sharkmen aren’t here. I knew it was smart to choose this place!” Zhao Manyan climbed over a fence and entered a building close to Fenghe.

He snuck in through a window and realized it was a student’s room. There were clothes left on the beds, the kind that were thin, soft, and light-colored.

“It’s the girls’ dorm!” Zhao Manyan’s eyes glittered.

1

It was an easy drive on a familiar path. Zhao Manyan had often snuck into the girls’ dorms when he was still a student, and was quite at ease doing so again.

He took a quick look around. Many of the books, clothes, and necessities left in the dorm were covered in dust. He occasionally saw insects and demon rats with glowing eyes scuttling around the building. The rats were around the size of dogs, most likely Servant-class creatures.

The city had been abandoned. Certain timid demon creatures that had enjoyed living in the sewers had come to the surface afterwards.

The Sharkmen were only interested in the juicy meat of the Lance Spine Bears and delicious human blood for now. They had no interest in these filthy demon rats.

‘These demon rats were usually followed by a cluster of mice, which looked like a moving rug from afar. It was quite disgusting to see them at a close distance.

The Sharkmen were not hygienic. They would not finish their prey after tearing them to pieces, leaving their organs and remains scattered across the ground, which the low-level creatures fed on in turn.

The girls’ dorm had turned into a demon rat nest. Zhao Manyan did not want to stay there. He quickly made his way to the administration building.

He had to look for information that would tell him the origin of the school’s logo.

“This building is so disgusting. Why is it covered in a layer of sticky substance?” Zhao Manyan had quickly discovered the main building.

The main building had also turned into a nest for some demon species. The windows, floors, and ceilings were full of slimy pods of stuff.

One of the pods on the ceiling suddenly ruptured, blue ooze pouring out of it.

A fleshy blue insect crawled out of the pod. It was the size of a mature crocodile. It crawled down the wall and headed for the library.

The ground was already covered by trails of some dried substance. The insect was refreshing the trails it was following.

Zhao Manyan noticed the trails had dried up multiple times, meaning that more of these insects had been born in the building. They had all headed to the library.

“are these insects the studious type?” Zhao Manyan was curious. He quickly followed the clumsy insect to the library.1

The doors to the library were already destroyed. The library beyond them was extremely large. The ground floor was quite spacious, with a huge hall in the center and stairs leading to the higher floors around it.

Zhao Manyan followed the insect through the main entrance. He was shocked to discover a giant silver egg inside the hall.

“Oh my, how big is this egg!?” Zhao Manyan exclaimed. He had to tilt his head back to see the top of the egg.

It was seven stories tall!

It had to be the egg of a Sharkman Beast with a pure lineage. Zhao Manyan’s eyes glittered with shock.

The insect crawled up to the egg and dug into the egg through one of its cracks.

“Holy crap, it’s eating the yolk!” Zhao Manyan snarled.

If he could move the huge egg, he would be able to sell it for a high price. It was an ideal Contracted Beast for every Summoner, but the insects had been eating it.

What a waste!

Why didn’t the insects eat the offal instead? Why did they have to eat the egg?

Zhao Manyan felt it was a pity. If so many insects had come here to eat the egg, there was no way the creature in it could still be alive.

Zhao Manyan was about to leave, and stepped on a book that was related to animals.

Zhao Manyan glanced at the book and immediately thought of something.

Hang on!

If it was a Sharkman Beasts’ egg, why weren’t they guarding it? Why would they let these petty insects from the sewers eat their egg?

Zhao Manyan decided not to give up, and quickly climbed up the giant egg.

He poked his head into the crack that the insect had gone inside, trying to see what was left inside.

He almost wet his pants after looking within.

Inside the egg was a huge infant of the Sharkman Beasts. It was eating the insect!

The infant had a tough silver skin. The Servant-class insect had no way of hurting it!

Zhao Manyan thought the insects had ruined the egg, but the infant Sharkman Beast was so savage. It was feeding on the Servant-class insects before its egg had even hatched!

Incredible! It would at least become a Great Ruler after it grew up!

“Lwonder if this Contract Ring is going to work. It won’t hurt to try it out now, right?” Zhao Manyan murmured.

A Contract Ring was a unique magic tool. It would allow a Mage who did not have the Summoning Element to have a Contracted Beast. The Ring not only established a link between the Mage and the creature’s souls, but it would also provide the creature with a Contracted Space. It was a valuable magic

tool.

Zhao Manyan’s father did not leave him lots of money, but he had left his son a treasure vault full of his collected items. His father had even applied layers of powerful Seals on the vault to prevent it from falling into the hands of Zhao Yougian and any others. Zhao Manyan had been forced to slowly dig

out the treasures inside the vault alone..